


Death Glares and Fate

by Watermei



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Canon - Anime, Canon Compliant, Clear Card Arc (Cardcaptor Sakura), F/M, Red String of Fate, touya is an overprotective big brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26902537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watermei/pseuds/Watermei
Summary: Touya glares at Syaoran because it's the only way to catch the thread that ties the brat to his sister. Touya and Fujitaka talk about the red string of fate. While Touya is trying to figure what he's going to do about Sakura and Syaoran, Fujitaka thinks that Touya is talking about himself and Yukito. Big Brother POV.
Relationships: Kinomoto Sakura/Li Syaoran
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	Death Glares and Fate

He was busy trying to stop this kid from attacking his sister, when he caught the faint red shimmer. At first he wasn’t sure what he saw, it was like a gossamer thread, attached to the boy’s closed fist. The red and gold faded in and out of his vision, as if the thread itself was trying not to be seen. As he stood there, ready to throw down with this brat, in his periphery the silk danced magically, and floated behind him towards Sakura and Tomoyo. Touya wanted to turn around to see where it went, but was locked in a stare down, fists raised at the bully. At that moment though, Yukito came rushing over the fence with lunch, causing Touya to drop his stance and help himself to the pork buns Yukito brought. As Yukito offered the kid a part of his lunch, he saw another glimmer, coming from his sister’s hands which were cradling her pork bun.

Shit.

The next time he saw the ethereal shimmer, he could see that it landed on his sister. It happened when he and Yukito were waiting around for Sakura, thinking about how he needed to beat up the stupid brat, when the kid shows up and set his freaking clothes on fire. Quickly putting out the small flame, Touya glared up at the stupid kid playing magic tricks on him. What the hell was that for? he thought, but then was quickly distracted by that shimmering spider silk again. The kids were now side-by-side, fighting for Yukito’s attention. But that silk thread appeared and disappeared from Toya’s vision. It seemed to wrap around the kids, wanting to draw them closer together, but disappeared right before the brat ran away.

After that, Touya saw the two together on several occasions, and had only managed glimpses of the magical thread when he wasn’t looking for it. It was like the ghostly thread wanted to remind Touya of its presence, but didn’t want the attention. Touya tried his best to ignore it, but it only made him angrier. Unfortunately, after his powers were given in exchange for Yukito’s continued existence; Touya couldn’t catch a glimpse of the thread at all. He wanted to believe that maybe his baby sister wasn’t tied to that Chinese brat anymore, but he knew that it was his own lack of magic, and not that their fate had somehow been changed.

Years went by, and life was mostly quiet. He and Yukito graduated high school and even managed to get into University together. He still helped take care of his father and sister, and worked just as many jobs as he did in high school. On this particular day, he was working in the cafe of the aquarium. It was a surprise gig, they had called him up and asked if he’d fill in for the afternoon. Realizing that he shouldn’t tempt fate, he accepted the job and settled into the familiar environment of the ground floor of the aquarium. When the kids sat down together to order their strawberry milk shaved ice, nothing could break the death glare between himself and Syaoran. While their eyes were locked together, Touya could see the red ribbon float in the corner of his eyes. He knew that if he tried to look at it directly it would disappear, so he kept his gaze dead-set on his sister’s ‘date’. The red thread of fate was so much more substantial now than it was all those years ago when he first witnessed it. Today it was a solid, wide red ribbon, and it hung in the air, as if it was expertly twirled by a professional ribbon dancer. When he finally turned to place their order, he looked back and it disappeared, but it didn’t make him feel any better.

The chaos and confusion of the next set of events made him feel even more scared and angry. Why was Sakura constantly under attack by these mysterious forces? And why did that brat have his hands all over her like that? He watched as Syaoran carried Sakura through the water to the higher ground of the staircase. The red glimmer of the thread that connects the two started as a ghost of a bow tied to Sakura’s little finger. It faintly shined while Touya looked them over, red ribbon twirling around the couple like an excited puppy. It was all too much for him to handle, so he quietly left the two alone for the rest of the very strange and annoying evening.

Exhausted, Touya sat in the living room and watched his father read from a rather large textbook. “Is the monster home?”

Without looking up from his page, Fujitaka replied, “She’s out with Tomoyo-chan” he put his book down and looked at his son, “and you shouldn’t call your sister a monster, you know?”

“Ack, now you are sounding like Yukito, I’ll call her whatever I want.” Touya slumped back into his seat to get comfortable.

“How is Tsukishiro-kun nowadays? I haven’t seen him around here in a while, but maybe that’s because I’ve been busy.” He laughed.

“He’s fine. Probably as tired as I am.” Touya held up his left hand in front of his face and examined it. Just thinking about the events today, on top of dealing with that stupid red string and that sister stealing brat made him even more exhausted. “Dad?” he started, “do you think the red string of fate can ever be severed?”

Fujitaka frowned as he watched Touya examine his hand. “The red string of fate is just an ancient myth, and you know that the legend states that the thread would never break. But, I guess if you ever meet Yue Lao standing beneath the moonlight, you could always ask him to sever the tie. Although, I don’t think there is a single story where that ever happened. All the folklore stands by that even in adversity the two tied together eventually get married.”

Touya dropped his hand into his lap, even more annoyed. “Yue Lao?”

“Chinese lunar matchmaking god.” Fujitaka smiled.

“Huh, well then, I’ll just have to bring it up with him next time we talk.” Touya tried to picture Yue, Yukito’s angelic, yet grumpy, other self as a matchmaker but quickly brushed the idea aside.

“You know, all of the ancient stories start off rocky but have happy endings. Like the story about Yue Lao showing a young boy who his thread was connected to. The boy bullied the girl and they went their separate ways, but years later the two were married and the man was surprised to find it was the same girl he had bullied when he was younger.

“Ugh.” That hits a little close to home, Touya thought. His mind raced back to years ago, to his first meeting with Syaoran, when he was literally attacking Sakura, the red thread already connecting the two 9 year olds.

“Hmmmm,” Fujitaka looked thoughtfully at his own hand. “I think the moral of the story was that you cannot stop fate. But today it is just an ancient legend kept alive to add a little romance to this modern age.”

“But what if it’s not a good match?” Touya asked. Fujitaka raised his eyebrows, a little surprised by the question. “Hypothetically,” Touya added.

“I guess that’s the subtle difference between the Western belief in soulmates and the Eastern belief in the Red String of Marriage. Soulmates are not fated to be together against all odds, if they do find each other though, it’s considered a perfect match. If you don’t have the red thread tied to you, then you are not fated to be with someone, and you can ultimately choose your own destiny. But if you do have the red thread, you are fated to marry that person whether it’s a good match or not.”

Shit.

After a few minutes of silence, Fujitaka looked at his son again, and only slightly abashed asked, “You know, all this talk about the red thread of marriage, should I be worried about financing and planning a wedding in the near future?”

“What?!” Touya shot up from where he was slumped on the sofa, “it is waaaay too soon to even be thinking about something like that.” He said angrily, slashing at the air with an open fist.

“I’m sorry, I went too far. I didn’t mean to make you so upset.”

“The whole thing just, just, just makes me angry...” he finished lamely. “They’re too young to be caught up in fate.”

“They?” Fujitaka asked, ignoring the rest of the sentence. “I thought you were talking about yourself and, well, Tsukishiro-kun” Fujitaka shrugged and laughed while scratching the back of his head nervously.

“What? No!” Touya’s brain had to think quickly for a minute. Still stuck on the fate of his sister, and now faced with contemplating his own fated relationship. He couldn’t see his own thread; he lifted his hand once more to check. But since he was the one who started this conversation, does he tell his dad about his ability to see things? Does he tell their father that Sakura is connected to a seemingly dangerous Chinese sorcerer? Again, it was all too much, he just wanted Sakura to have a normal life, was it really too much to ask? Touya sighed heavily and slumped back into the sofa. “Sorry for snapping, I just wasn’t even thinking about my own relationship.”

“I see, so then it’s Sakura you’re worried about?” Fujitaka smiled sadly, watching Touya run a hand down his face in exasperation. “You know, Li-kun is a good kid, and Sakura seems to like him a lot…” he trailed off, worried that if he said anymore Touya would just get angry again.

Touya just stared at the ceiling, letting the exhaustion wash over him. “I think I’m going to add a Chinese language class to my schedule next semester. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”


End file.
